QA Tester Job Trends in the North of England

Quality Assurance Tester
England > North of England

The median Quality Assurance Tester salary in the North of England is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 13 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 258 282 272
Rank change year-on-year +24 -10 +143
Permanent jobs requiring a QA Tester 1 5 8
As % of all permanent jobs in the North of England 0.009% 0.055% 0.093%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.011% 0.059% 0.098%
Number of salaries quoted 1 5 7
10th Percentile - £34,395 £39,250
25th Percentile - £40,988 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £41,774 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.72% -7.17% +5.88%
75th Percentile - £42,561 £61,250
90th Percentile - £45,524 £71,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £46,250 £40,000
% change year-on-year +18.92% +15.63% -15.79%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
North of England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the North of England. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the North of England with a recognized job title 9,493 8,534 8,200
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 88.64% 94.06% 95.76%
Number of salaries quoted 5,527 4,016 6,544
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £32,875 £40,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,055 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.11% +0.11% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £67,070
90th Percentile £82,344 £80,000 £81,250
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,800
% change year-on-year -8.33% +3.81% -6.02%

QA Tester
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'QA Tester' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North of England.

QA Tester job vacancy trend in the North of England

QA Tester
Salary Trend in the North of England

Salary distribution trend for QA Tester job vacancies in the North of England.

Salary distribution trend for QA Tester job vacancies in the North of England

QA Tester
Job Locations in the North of England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing QA Tester within the North of England region over the 6 months to 13 January 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North West +28 1 £45,000 +7.72% 2
QA Tester
England

QA Tester Skill Set
Top 14 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England

For the 6 months to 13 January 2026, QA Tester job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the North of England region featuring QA Tester in the job title.

1 1 (100.00%) Acceptance Criteria
1 1 (100.00%) Agile
1 1 (100.00%) API Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Cypress.io
1 1 (100.00%) JavaScript
1 1 (100.00%) Jenkins
1 1 (100.00%) Postman
1 1 (100.00%) Python
1 1 (100.00%) QA
1 1 (100.00%) Regression Testing
1 1 (100.00%) REST
1 1 (100.00%) Security Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Selenium
1 1 (100.00%) Test Automation

QA Tester Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Development Applications
1 1 (100.00%) Cypress.io
1 1 (100.00%) Jenkins
1 1 (100.00%) Postman
1 1 (100.00%) Selenium
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (100.00%) REST
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Acceptance Criteria
1 1 (100.00%) Agile
1 1 (100.00%) API Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Regression Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Security Testing
1 1 (100.00%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 1 (100.00%) JavaScript
1 1 (100.00%) Python
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (100.00%) QA